


Rosebud

by AngelofDarkness1605



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:24:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6106282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelofDarkness1605/pseuds/AngelofDarkness1605
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team building activity that Belle is part of takes an interesting turn when she mistakes the mysterious long-haired local with a cane for an undercover participant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rosebud

"Come on Belle, _hurry_ ," Ruby says insistently, going as far as to physically drag her away from the antique books she was staring at longingly through the shop window. "We still got three more assignments to complete and I'll be damned if our team comes in last."

"Fine," Belle sighs, reminding herself that she can't go into the shop anyway, since it's closed for lunch. "What's next?"

"We still got that awful puzzle to solve to get our clue for the next location and we haven't found Mr. X yet."

"Let's take a look at the puzzle again," Belle says, knowing that there's a chance that she might be able to visit to Mr. Gold Pawnbroker & Antiquities Dealer after all if they are done with the actual assignment of the team building day in time. "We must have missed something the first time."

"Let's at least sit down and save our energy while we wreck our brains again," her friend suggests. "There's a small park right there; I see a few benches."

"Good idea," she agrees, grateful for the respite as she follows Ruby into the abandoned park.

They've been chasing through the quaint town with the rather incredible name of Storybrooke - and its surrounding forest, beach and harbor - for the greater part of two hours now in an attempt to get their assignments done more quickly than the other teams. Belle is starting to notice that she prefers reading over exertion.

"Look, there's someone here after all," Ruby says, gesturing at a solitary man sitting in a corner of the park, reading a paper. Belle doesn't think much of him until her friend pokes her meaningfully in the ribs with her elbow. "He could be Mr. X!"

"I don't know, Ruby. He could be anyone."

"But that's the whole point of Mr. X, isn't it? In fact, this is exactly what we were told in the instruction at the beginning, when you still thought you could sneak into the nearest bookshop as soon as we started."

"Guilty as charged," she replies, smiling a little at the apt description. "So, we're going to approach him rather than do the puzzle?"

" _Of course_ we are going to approach him; we're never going to win this thing if we don't find Mr. X!"

"If you don't mind, I'll do the puzzle so you can go to check whether he's…"

"Oh no Belle, not this time. I've been yelling the code word at so many people already I'm surprised I'm not arrested yet. _You_ go check this one."

"Fine," she sighs, wondering how anyone can think it's enjoyable to bother strangers like this.

"Do you remember the code word?"

"I don't think I'll ever be able to forget it," she replies, rolling her eyes before she approaches the man.

Studying him as she closes the distance between them, Belle got to admit that there _is_ something mysterious about the man. His hair is rather long, he is dressed in black from head to toe and he appears to have a cane with him. He is considerably better dressed than any man she has seen in town so far and maybe there's something slightly suspicious about the way he all but hides behind his paper.

"Excuse me, sir," she says, clearing her throat as she comes to a halt in front of him, maintaining what she hopes is a respectful distance. "Can I ask you something?"

The man acts as if he hasn't heard her.

"Rosebud?" she says questioningly, feeling like a complete idiot.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" he asks, looking up at her from his paper after all.

"I… it means only something when you are who you might be," she mutters, taken aback by the intentness of his gaze.

"And who is it that I might be?" he asks, his low, accented voice not making it any easier for her to think straight.

"Mr. X?"

"Doesn't ring a bell," the man replies, shrugging. "I'm only asking because at least half a dozen people have come up to me today saying that very word. A rather strange experience, if I say so."

"I can imagine," Belle says, shivering a little as she imagines herself being in his shoes, being distracted from her reading material like that, let alone so often.

"I don't know who Mr. X is, but I did overhear two young men from what appeared to be two different groups saying that the response which each of them got from him is 'umbrella'."

"So we all get the same codes," Ruby exclaims excitedly, having walked towards them without her noticing. "That makes this so much easier."

Before Belle can say anything, her friend is already back on the phone with 'headquarters' to try to exchange the acquired code word for the location of their next assignment.

"How does this work anyway, if I may ask?" the stranger says, putting his paper aside.

"You're asking the wrong person," Belle responses, for the first time wishing that she had properly paid attention when the rules were explained. "We've got to complete seven assignments, but we can only move on to the next one if we find the right clue. Solving puzzles, finding objects, that kind of thing. I'm just tagging along, really."

"You have to participate?"

"Well, it's not like I _have_ to, but we came all the way down here from Boston anyway and it's organized by our boss. Besides, Ruby, my team mate, _does_ like this very much, so… But let's just say I'd much rather take a good, long look inside that gorgeous antiquities shop down on Main Street. I hope I'll have the chance once this ridiculous challenge is over."

"Indeed," he mutters, looking at her as if he suddenly sees her in a new light. "If you have a few moments to spare before you return to Boston, even if the regular opening hours are over… you might find that the shop which you are referring to is still open."

"You are _Mr. Gold_!" she cries out, realization dawning. "My name is Belle French and I'm… well, I guess you can say I'm obsessed with books and with reading, so those antique books in your shop window very much caught my attention."

She offers him her hand and to her delight he shakes it immediately, his hold warm and strong, but not too much so.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss French."

"The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Gold. Please, call me Belle."

"Well, I'm very glad that you've found your way to Storybrooke, Maine today, Miss... Belle."

"So am I," she breathes.

There are so many things she wants to say, if only to find out more about the collection of antique books in his shop. But looking at him like this, with his warm, gentle brown eyes studying her and his face unexpectedly handsome, she has no idea what to say exactly.

It might just be her imagination, but she's got the feeling that he wants to keep talking as well but is also struggling to find words to keep their conversation going… and that his cheeks are flushing, just like hers.

"Hey, Belle!" comes Ruby's impatient voice from behind her. "We aren't nearly finished with the assignment, so you don't have the time to flirt just yet."

"We aren't _flirting_ ," she says curtly, casting an apologetic look at Mr. Gold, who is looking at her with wide eyes.

He's _definitely_ blushing now.

" _Sure._ Anyway, I'm still on hold with headquarters to verify the code your new friend just gave us. Since he's been so helpful so far, maybe he can help with the puzzle as well?"

Looking over her shoulder, Belle finds her friend winking encouragingly at her. Her cheeks reddening further, she realizes that Ruby has given her a rather subtle excuse to spend some more time with this intriguing man and, just as importantly, she has given them something to talk about.

"Would you mind?" she says, trying to sound neutral when she gestures at the booklet with the puzzles she's holding.

"Let's see if I can be of help," he says, his smile making her think of everything but clues and puzzles. "Is the puzzle printed on there?"

"It is, yes," Belle says hastily, realizing that she has simply been staring at his handsome face for an impolite amount of time rather than actually giving the booklet with the puzzles to him. "Here you go."

She's grateful that Mr. Gold immediately focuses on the first part of the puzzle which has deluded Ruby and herself for the greater part of the past half our, giving her the chance to study him from the corners of her eyes.

"The purpose is to find the symbol which follows the sequence of the five symbols given, which is represented by option 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' or 'E', isn't it?" he asks soon.

"Yes," she replies distractedly, noticing more and more that his voice is as gorgeous as his looks.

"Then 'C' is the correct answer."

"How did you know so soon?!"

She can't help but conclude that he obviously isn't nearly as distracted by her as she is by him.

"These 'symbols' are little more than a '1' being merged with another but mirrored '1'. The same goes for the '2', '3', '4' and '5' that follow it, so logically the unknown symbol must be a '6' and a mirrored '6'. Hence, the answer to this puzzle is 'C'."

"Wonderful," she smiles, circling the answer of which she now sees herself that it's obviously the only right one. "Maybe, if you don't mind, you can help with the other puzzles as well? There were two more we couldn't figure out."

That's how Belle finds herself puzzling with words, numbers and shapes with the help of a complete stranger – a very helpful and _attractive_ stranger. Their heads are almost touching one another when they bow over the small booklet with the puzzles, their hands brushing a few times when they point out things on the paper to one another.

The earlier thought that she doesn't have the same impact on him as he does on her is out of the window when she finds out that he goes entirely still for several seconds each and every time their hands touch.

Enjoying the puzzles infinitely more than she ever thought she would now that she gets to solve them with Mr. Gold, she's oblivious to the fact that Ruby ended her phone conversation now looks at them with a knowing look on her face. Still, between the two of them, they've got all the remaining puzzles figured out in no time.

"For the next challenge we don't have to get to any particular place," Ruby says when both Belle and Mr. Gold instinctively look back at her when their work is done, "but we've got to take a naughty picture and sent it to headquarters. If it's naughty enough, we get the location for our next assignment."

"Taking a naughty picture?" Belle echoes, scrunching her forehead. "What kind of assignment is _that_?"

"Define 'naughty'," Mr. Gold mutters.

"I guess it's in the same line as the tiny clue box we found underneath a pile of dog shit."

"Dog shit?!" he asks, looking mildly alarmed.

"It was fake," Belle explains, "although it looked real enough."

"It almost _smelled_ real, too. But back to the naughty picture," Ruby says pointedly. "I suggest that you pose, Belle, and that I am the one to take the picture. Before you suggest for us to swap roles, let me remind you that _I_ was the one who retrieved the clue from beneath the fake but still very disgusting dog shit."

"All right," she grumbles, "but let me remind _you_ that I'm not going to do anything embarrassing."

"Who says anything about embarrassing? Look at it from the bright side; you might end up doing something very enjoyable. Maybe Mr. Gold would like to help out again?"

He looks questioningly from one woman to the other, but to Belle's relief he doesn't seem either mortified or offended... not _yet_ , anyway.

"Spill it, Ruby," she sighs, seeing the mischievous twinkle in her friend's eyes. "What do you have in mind?"

"Oh, nothing at all," she says, her friend's innocent voice far from convincing. "I was just thinking that a picture of you kissing a perfect stranger would probably be naughty enough."

"Mr. Gold has probably better things to do than kiss a woman he barely knows," she says, keeping her voice as neutral as she can even as her cheeks flame at the prospect, no matter how inane, of kissing the clever, handsome owner of so many old books.

"I'm certain that Belle wouldn't be pleased at all to kiss a man like me," he says, speaking at almost exactly the same time as she does.

"Nonsense!" Belle cries out, being the first one to recover, if only because he looks so resigned while there's some unmistakable longing in his voice.

"Well, what's stopping you then?!" Ruby quickly chimes in.

"I couldn't possibly…" he says, either his tone or her own wishful thinking informing her that it's propriety rather than a lack of interest that's holding him back.

"Can't you?" she asks softly, wanting to find out which of those two is driving him.

"You wouldn't mind if I were to _kiss_ you?"

"I wouldn't mind at all, no," she breathes, having entirely forgotten about Ruby, the picture and the challenge. "In fact, I _hope_ that you will kiss me."

The sound he makes in response is incomprehensible, but the way he leans towards her and questioningly looks at her lips is most definitely not. Feeling like he's a man who makes her feel like no one ever has, who makes her _want_ , rather than a stranger, there's no doubt in Belle's mind whatsoever about how she's going to react.

Feeling like her body is too small to contain all her eagerness and excitement, she presses her lips against him. She shudders against him when the contact has warmth spreading all through her, her entire body trembling because of his nearness, the way he sighs her name against his lips.

Kissing like this was exactly what she had in mind, but she finds that it doesn't nearly suffice when he tentatively moves his arm around her. His hand coming to rest on her waist, the way he lightly caresses her through the fabric of her clothes has her gasping.

Belle doesn't know whether he reacts in kind or whether he purposefully parts his lips, but she does know that the movement results in a kiss more enjoyable than she thought any kiss could be when their tongues tentatively meet. Her entire world turns to become only them and the warmth between them.

Later, when she has come down from this high, she'll wonder how a kiss with someone she for all intends and purposes doesn't know can feel so safe and so utterly exhilarating at the same time. For now, she wants as much of him as she can get, barely aware that she pulls him on top of her when the two of them start falling over even while they sit on the bench.

"Come on Belle, grab his butt."

At this point, she doesn't even know whether Ruby's voice is registering in her mind or that her own subconsciousness has become a lot more vocal. Either way, she does exactly that, boldly reaching for his backside now that he's half on top of her.

He _growls_ into her mouth and presses closer to her, making her feel for the first time that she's not the only one who is getting irrationally aroused. She runs her hands all over the back of his body, savoring the way she can feel his clenching muscles and body heat.

She doesn't know when she would have stopped the highly spontaneous kiss and whatever it is exactly that happened as a result of it - whether she would have stopped at all - but Mr. Gold breaks off the kiss eventually.

Sitting back up and absent-mindedly straightening her clothes, Belle stares at him as the world around her slowly returns back to its normal state. He looks at her sheepishly, his hair and clothes just as disheveled as her own must be, and his cheeks are wonderfully flushed.

"This is incredible," Ruby exclaims, almost doubling over with laughter before Belle can try to find what to say or do now. "For years, you barely looked at any man at all, and now you're _seriously_ making out with this guy only minutes after meeting him. _Nice_."

Belle looks back at the man who made her, indeed, feel like no one else ever has, yet more uncertain than before on how to proceed now that she's reminded of her friend's vocal presence. But he questioningly offers her his hand and when she squeezes it lightly, she knows that nothing has to be said for the two of them to understand each other perfectly.

"I hate to break it to you, but we've got to move on," Ruby continues. "I sent a picture of you guys over to headquarters and it _definitely_ earned us the location for the next challenge; we've got to go to the most northern jetty at the docks. It would be a waste for us not to get back into the game now that you've made such an _effort_."

"I…" she falters, not knowing what to choose.

On the one hand, there's nothing she'd rather do than stay with Mr. Gold, but on the other hand she wants to go with her friend, if only to clear her head a little after the breathtaking moment that she just experienced.

"Go if you like, sweet Belle," he says, his tone and gentle smile informing her that she doesn't _need_ to clear her head, because he'll make certain that they won't do anything they'll come to regret even if she isn't capable of that herself right now. "I'll wait for you in the shop until you're done."

And just like that, without actually saying it, he also lets her know that, unlike her former fiancé, he is aware that she is her own person, that she can do exactly as she prefers. For that alone she is only more tempted to stay right where she is, right here with him.

At the same time, Belle knows now that he isn't going anywhere and that she doesn't want to let Ruby down, especially since they wouldn't have gotten to this point in the first place if it hadn't been for her friend's meddling.

"I'll come to your shop as quickly as I can once the assignments are done," she says, despite her determination to help her friend reluctant to actually get up from her place on the bench at his side after what they just shared.

"You might as well arrange for her to stay at your house for the night," Ruby chimes in again, "because something tells me Belle won't make it to the bus back to Boston in time after her visit with you!"

"Ruby!" she cries out, scandalized and rather hopeful at the same time.

"You're very welcome to spend the night, Belle," he says, sounding as if he'd like nothing more than that. "In fact, you can stay for as long as you like."

"I might never leave," she murmurs under her breath in response, sensing that she won't be able to envision a brighter future than one with this incredible man - and his books.

"That sounds perfect to me," he whispers back.

"I agree as well," Ruby interrupts, "just as long as we win the challenge first."

"I'll be waiting for you in the shop," he repeats when her friend pulls Belle back on her feet.

"I'll go there as soon as I can," she replies once more before continuing the silly quest which brought them together in the first place.

Even as she follows Ruby back to the docks, she keeps looking backwards at Mr. Gold, who holds her gaze the whole time and waves at her until she is out of sight.

"You know, I sort of made it up," her friend says as she checks their map.

"What did you make up?" Belle asks, more out of politeness than anything else, her head still spinning because of her encounter with Mr. Gold.

"The assignment. The 'mischievous' one. The actual goal was to take a _dangerous_ picture, but I guessed that making out with a cane wielding stranger can count in that category as well… and I was right. Headquarters said it was the most original picture they've ever seen in this challenge."

"I… I suppose I should be grateful," Belle replies, not knowing what to think of her friend's antics exactly, only that Mr. Gold and she never would have found out about their feelings for one another - and the reciprocity of them - if it hadn't been for this purposefully... creative interpretation of the assignment.

Besides, the least she can do at a later point is to pester Ruby to share the picture with her as well, so she'll have a _very_ vivid keepsake of the extraordinary moment with Mr. Gold.

"Now Belle, focus on the next assignment. Think of it this way: the sooner we are done, the sooner you can go back to kissing your silver fox senseless."

"I bet I'll be at the finish sooner than you," Belle replies cheerfully, mentally already back in Mr. Gold's arms.


End file.
